Cage type jewelry links

ABSTRACT

A chain including a plurality of cages connected together, each cage including at least two arms having at least one feature which distinguishes one or more of the at least two arms from a remainder of the arms, said at least arms being bent in a direction away from a base point.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to articles of jewelry and specificallyjewelry chains.

2. Discussion of Prior Art

Jewelry chains are often made up of individual elements that areinterconnected to form a chain whose length is then cut and clasps putat the end to form bracelets, necklaces, and the like. Also, such chainportions can be used as elements of other types of jewelry.

In certain types of jewelry, individual links are utilized as theindividual building blocks of the jewelry and such links areinterconnected together. By way of example, the well known rope chain ismade up of individual links and these links are woven or interconnectedtogether to form the well known rope chain. Such links are typically aring or loop of material that lies in a single plane with a gap locatedwithin the periphery. The links can be circular, rectangular, triangularor of any other shape but significantly, it lies in a single plane.

Other types of jewelry chains are formed by means of a cage constructionas the initial element. Such cage lies in at least more than one plane.It is typically formed by more than two arms with the arms connected ata lower point and the arms extending upwardly there from and the armsangularly spaced with respect to each other. These arms can beinterconnected either by soldering them at the bottom or forming themout of a single flat portion and bending the arms upwardly to define thecage.

These individual cages are then interconnected one to the other invarious manners to form an elongated chain. Typical such chains may bethe Prima Donna chain, the Pop Corn chain, the Reflection chain, andmany others.

Heretofore, the arms of the cages have been formed uniformly within thecage itself and also uniformly throughout the chain. While the cagesthemselves can be shaped so that the cage is round, elongated, square,or other such shapes, all the arms in a single cage and for that matter,all of the cages forming the sequence of interconnected cages are alluniform.

In connecting these cages, there are techniques in which they areconnected by hand or utilizing machines to interconnect the cages one tothe other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention contemplates the formation of cages with at leasttwo of the arms being different from each other. By way of example, thecage can consist of three arms of which one arm will be one color andthe other two arms will be a different color. Also, all three arms couldbe of different colors. Furthermore, the invention contemplates havingthe arms of different widths. For example, one of the arms could be of aslim width and the other two arms could be of wider widths. Alternately,each of the three arms could have different widths. Furthermore, thewidths of the arms need not be uniform. On the contrary, designs couldbe placed along the width of the arm as the arm extends longitudinallyupward. These designs can be different from each other.

Furthermore, not only can there be at least two different colors andshapes along the width of the arm, but the actual elongation of the armin the upward direction can differ with at least two different shapes.For example, one shape can be vertical upwardly from the base where thearms are interconnected, while at least one other arm may be arcuatelyextending upwardly from the base. It should be appreciated that the cagecan have more than three arms, and again, so long as there are at leasttwo different arms within the cage, such is contemplated in thisinvention.

Furthermore, once these cages are formed, they can be interconnectedeither manually or by a machine process. When connecting them either byhand or by machine, depending upon how the individual cages areinterconnected one to the other and the angular relationship of one cageto the next cage and all of its previous cages, there can result anelongated chain with an entirely different effect. Chains having spiralcolors or shapes that can be formulated in this manner, as well aschains having undulating patterns along the elongated length.

It should be appreciated that many such different types of chainsutilizing cages can be formed in this way and furthermore, manydifferent articles of jewelry can be thereby formed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cage in accordance with the prior art;

FIG. 2 is another embodiment of a cage in accordance with the prior art;

FIG. 3 an embodiment of a cage in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a chain formed from different adjacentcages;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cage formed out of a stamping;

FIGS. 6-11 show different embodiments of cages with the arms stamped outof material with different shapes along the front;

FIG. 12 is a side view of a cage with different shapes of the arms in aside view;

FIG. 13 is a chain assembled from cages including that of FIG. 12;

FIGS. 14-15 show cages with arms differing in their side view;

FIGS. 16-17 show chains formulated with cages of the present invention;

FIGS. 18-19 show an end perspective and side view of a machine formedchain.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While this invention is illustrated and described in a preferredembodiment, the device may be produced in many different configurations,forms and materials. There is depicted in the drawings, and will hereinbe described in detail, preferred embodiments of the invention, with theunderstanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as anexemplification of the principles of the invention and the associatedfunctional specification for its construction and is not intended tolimit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. Those skilled in theart will envision many other possible variations within the scope of thepresent invention.

The present invention contemplates the use of individual cage elementsin the formation of a chain. A cage element is defined as an elementhaving more than two arms with the arms interconnected at a base portionand the arms extending upwardly from the base portion. By way ofexample, FIG. 1 shows a cage having four arms, 10, 12, 14 and 16,interconnected at a base point 18 and having the individual armsextending upwardly from the base. The arms are placed at 900 angles onewith respect to the other. The top portions have inwardly pointingfingers. This cage element is one that typically utilized in forming aPrima Donna chain. In this case the arms of the cage are of asubstantially rectangular configuration.

The Prima Donna chain would be formulated by placing the next adjacentcage, similar to this case, angularly spaced within this cage. Thefingers would be interconnected by means of solder or other means ofinterconnecting them and thereafter, further cages inter-coupled withprevious cages and then closing them off to form the Prima Donna cage.Each of the cages are angularly spaced with respect to the next cage.

However, it will be noted that all of the four arms of this cage aresubstantially identical to each other. Such identity is both in theirthickness and construction, as well as their particular shape.Furthermore, heretofore the color configuration of all of the arms hasbeen uniform. For example, the entire cage will be made out of a goldmaterial or a silver material, or the like or other precious metalmaterial forming the chain.

Such cages can be formulated in various ways. By way of example, thecage of FIG. 1 would typically be formed by two individual planar linkswhich might be soldered together at base point 18 to form the cage.However, as will be hereinafter shown, such cages could be formed bystamping the arms out of a flat sheet of material.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown another cage, again constitutedof four arms. In this case the arms are substantially circular loopsthat are interconnected to form the four arms 20, 22, 24. The fourth armwould be 1800 from the arm 24. The four arms are interconnected at abase portion 26. At the upper ends, the arms would be formed with gapstherein to permit entry of another similar cage.

Heretofore, assembling these cages one to another, all of the cageswould be the same. However, there is shown in FIG. 3, a cage formed offour arms, again each perpendicular to each other 30, 32, 34, 36. Inthis case, each of the arms are bent in the form of a cup handle so thatthe two arms 30 and 32 form a heart shaped configuration and likewisethe two arms 34 and 36 would create an inverted heart shapedconfiguration.

Instead of interconnecting identical cages as has been done in the past,in this case a Prima Donna chain is formed as shown in FIG. 4 withalternating cages, one of the type of FIG. 2, and one of the type ofFIG. 3. Specifically, the cage identified as 40 is that of the circularring shown in FIG. 2 and intertwined with this is the cage 42 of theheart shaped configuration as shown in FIG. 3. These are then alternatedto form a chain as shown in FIG. 4.

While the cages thus far shown have been formed by individual links eachlying in a plane which have been put together and these are assembled inan orthogonal manner to provide four arms 900 from each other, otherconfigurations can be put together. For example, the cages can be formedwith three arms, each spaced apart 1200. Furthermore, five, six, orother number arms can also be put together with different angularspacing between the arms.

Furthermore, while the particular cages have been shown formed by links,these individual cages can also be formed by a stamping process. Forexample, FIG. 5 is a cage formed by stamping a flat sheet of materialwith the four arms and then bending them in arcuate fashion to form asubstantially hemispheric type of cage with the four arms in the natureof a flower. Additional cages would then be inserted one into the otherand thereafter the tops of the cages sealed off to retain thesubsequently inserted cages. Such type of cages can be used, by way ofexample, in the Popcorn chain or the Reflection chain.

However, in all of the foregoing types of cages, the arms within thecage are basically the same as all of the other arms in the cage.

In accordance with an additional embodiment of the present invention, inthe cage, which has more than two arms, defining a multiple armed cage,there are at least two different arms within the cage.

By way of example, one difference could be the difference in color. Asshown in FIG. 6, there is shown the four arms being stamped out of flatpiece of material defining the arms 44, 46, 48, 50. It will be notedthat each of the arms are designed to have a heart shaped configurationalong the length of the arm. While all of the arms are stampedidentically, it will be noted that the arms 48, 50 are of one color andthe arms 44 and 46 are formed of a different color.

It should be appreciated that the four arms that are stamped from a flatsheet of material would then be bent with the four arms extendingvertically. These can be bent in an arcuate shape as in FIG. 5, or anelongated shape as the cage of FIG. 1, in a square shape, etc., or inother shapes which will hereinafter be described.

It should be appreciated that not only could opposing arms havedifferent colors but adjacent arms could also have different colors fromother adjacent arms, as shown in FIG. 7 where adjacent arms 50 and 52have a common color, while adjacent arms 54, and 56 have a differentcolor. It should furthermore be appreciated that each of the four armscould each have different colors.

Furthermore, there need not be only four arms, but as shown in FIG. 8, acage could be formed of multiple arms with different ones being assigneddifferent colors. While two colors are shown, other colors and multiplecolors and multiple arrangements of the colors could be utilized.

In addition to forming the arms of different colors, the arms can alsobe formed of different shapes. By way of example, FIG. 9 shows astamping of four arms with at least two different patterns along thelength of the arms. Specifically, arms 60 and 62 have ovals formed alongthe length of the arms. Arms 64 and 66 have rectangles formed along thelength of the arms. This varies the width of the arm along its elongatedlength.

FIG. 10 shows a multi-armed configuration where both different colorsand different shapes along the length of the arms are used in amulti-armed caged configuration. In this case, the arms are spaced apartby 50°.

FIG. 11 shows a series of designs that might be included along thelongitudinal length of the arms. By including these along the length ofthe arm, the width of the arm varies along its longitude. It should beappreciated that these are a few of the almost infinite number ofdesigns that can be included. Furthermore, these designs can be mixedwith one or more arm containing one of these and one or more other armscontaining another design and including a different design along thelength of each of the multiple arms in the cage.

All of the different shapes heretofore discussed are referred to as thedifferent front shapes of the arms. This is specifically referring tothe formation of these different shapes on a flat sheet of materialwhich is stamped out to form the configuration of the cage with the armslying in the sheet of material. However, after these arms are formed andpunched as heretofore shown, the arms are then bent upwardly from a basewhich connects all of the arms. The way these arms are upwardly shapedand bent can also be in multiple different ways.

By way of example, in FIG. 1 the arms are shown extending longitudinallyupwardly. In FIG. 2, the arms extend upwardly in the form of asemicircle. In FIG. 3, some of the arms extend upwardly with a bulge ontop and some extend upwardly with a bulge on the bottom.

These arms can be intermixed so that in the cage with more than two armsat least two of the arms are bent upwardly in different format.

By way of example, referring to FIG. 12, there is shown a cage with fourarms, 70, 72, 74 (the other fourth arm would be behind arm 72). In thiscase, two of the arms 70, 72 extend vertically upwardly. The other twoarms 74 (and the one hidden behind 72) would be bent upwardly in anarcuate fashion.

By interconnecting these cages, one adjacent to the other with this cageconfiguration of the arms, an overall chain configuration as shown inFIG. 13 results. Note the cages are alternately placed in the chain.

While the arms as bent as in FIG. 12 are such that the exterior mostpoint of all of the arms are the same distance from the center of thecage, the arms can be such that one extends outwardly more than theother as shown in FIG. 14. In this case, the bending of the arms aresimilar to that in FIG. 12 but arm 80 is bent so that it extendsoutwardly beyond that to which arm 78 extends.

In using the cage as shown in FIG. 14, the result of the chain willappear as a step portion about the exterior. Alternately, as explainedlater, the exterior of the chain can be formed of the links of FIG. 14to but alternated regularly along the length of the chain to provide aspiral design about the periphery of the chain. These two configurationswould depend upon how the series of cages would be interconnected.

It should also be appreciated that other unique figurations of the armsas they are bent upwardly could also be achieved, as for example, thatshown in FIG. 15 where one arm is bent angularly 82, while the other armis semicircular 84. Numerous other configurations could be achieved.

In assembling these unique cages of the present invention, with at leasttwo arms being different in color, in different front shape, or indifferent side shape, different configurations of the chains can also beachieved. By way of example, referring to FIG. 16, there is shown achain where the cages have four arms, with two arms being in one color86 and the other two arms being in the other color 88. In this case, afirst cage is utilized. The second cage is placed by way of example 450with respect to the first cage. Thereafter, the two cages are returnedto their original position and the third cage is inserted so that it isin the same orientation with respect to colors as the first cage. Thereis then a rotation of the collected and secured cages and these arerotated at 450 for insertion of the fourth cage. Therefore, the fourthcage is oriented with respect to color in the same way as the secondcage. Creating an alternating pattern of the cages.

This type of assembly only rotates 450 for one cage and returns to itsoriginal position for the next cage. In this way, the result is thatevery other cage is the same as the ones previously and the chain shownin FIG. 16 will result.

However, it is also possible to continue the rotation of 450 from cageto cage without retuning back to the zero position. In this case, thefirst cage is positioned and the second cage is rotated 45° with respectto the first cage. Thereafter, the third cage is again rotated so thatit is 45° with respect to the previous one and 90° with respect to thefirst one. Each time a new cage is inserted there is a continuousrotation of 45° with respect to the previous one and there is no returnto zero position. As a result, the chain of FIG. 17will be producedwherein there is alternating spirals, one of the first color 90 and thesecond spiral 92. This color rotates completely around the entireperiphery of the chain that is produced as a spiral color about theperhiphery.

Although FIG. 16 and 17 show how different chains can be produced withthe different colors, it should be appreciated that likewise differentfront shapes of the arms and different side shapes of the arms withinthe cage would produce different results. Furthermore, it should beappreciated that the present invention includes the possibility ofalternating one shaped cage with another shaped cage along the length ofthe chain. It should also be appreciated that multiple shaped cagescould be utilized in various sequences to produce unique type of chains.

The type of chains of FIGS. 16 and 17 can either be produced manually orby machine. At present, machines that produce such chains typically onlyrotate 45°, for insertion of a subsequent cage and then returns to zerofor the next cage. However, such machines could be modified to continuethe rotation of 45° in sequence without the return to zero to producethe type of spiral affect in the chain shown in FIG. 17.

In connection with utilizing machines for assembling such cages, ratherthan solder the ends of one cage when the next cages are inserted, suchcages have enlarged fingers at the type of the arms. Inserting one cageinto the next cage, the arms are bent downward so that the enlargedfingers lock into the next cage to hold it in place. As shown in FIG.18, the enlarged head portion 94 along the arm 96 is available tointerlock the next cage. The finger 98 from the lower arm 100 of thelower cage is already shown bent over to lock in place the new cage.FIG. 19 shows a portion of the chain configuration formulated along itslength. It should be appreciated that chain 100 shown in FIG. 19 couldbe modified to have different colors of the arms in each cage, differentshapes along the length in the front view of the arms, different bentshapes along the side view or other types of configurations asheretofore described.

It should be appreciated that other types of variations, such as hollowversus solid links. links of different cross sections, all could beutilized within the present invention. These cages could be formed byindividual links soldered together, the entire cage stamped or punchedfrom lat material, or the cages cast or any other technique well known.

1. A cage for formation of a chain comprising: at least two arms,connected at a base point, said at least two arms having at least onefeature which distinguishes one or more of the at least two arms from aremainder of the arms, said at least arms being bent in a direction awayfrom the base point.
 2. The cage of claim 1, wherein the one or morefeature distinguishing the arms is different colors.
 3. The cage ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more feature distinguishing feature is thatthe arms are made of different materials.
 4. The cage of claim 1,wherein the one or more feature distinguishing features is that the armsare bent to transcribe different shapes.
 5. The cage of claim 1, whereinthe one or more feature distinguishing features is that the arms arestamped to have a different shape.
 6. A chain comprising: a plurality ofcages connected together, each cage including at least two arms havingat least one feature which distinguishes one or more of the at least twoarms from a remainder of the arms, said at least arms being bent in adirection away from a base point.
 7. The chain of claim 6, wherein oneor more of the plurality of cages is made of a material different fromthe remainder of the cages.
 8. The chain of claim 6, wherein each cageof the chain is made of two or more materials.
 9. The chain of claim 6where the material of the cages is alternated in a regular pattern. 10.The chain of claim 6, wherein one or more of the arms of each cage has adifferent feature from the remaining arms of the cage.
 11. The chain ofclaim 6, wherein the feature is that the one or more arm is made of adifferent material.
 12. The chain of claim 6, wherein the feature isthat the one or more arm is bent in a different shape.
 13. The chain ofclaim 6, wherein the feature is that the one or more arm stamped to havea different shape.
 14. The chain of claim 6, wherein the shape of thecages are alternated in a regular pattern along the chain.
 15. The chainof claim 14, wherein the alternated regular pattern is a rotation of acage relative to a preceding cage to form a spiral pattern along thelength of the chain.
 16. The chain of claim 14, wherein alternatedregular pattern is a change in the shape of a stamped arm of a cage ascompared to the preceding or following cage in line along the length ofthe chain.
 17. The chain of claim 14, wherein alternated regular patternis a change in the bend of an arm of a cage as compared to the precedingor following cage in line along the length of the chain.